# Just back from Carribean cruise with pron



## cryinlicks (Jan 3, 2007)

well, had a great time visiting Cayo Levantado DR, St Maarten, Antigua, and Nassau. saw some really hillarious fakes including cohiba maduro piramides, partagas ltd ed 2008 piramide, including these:


and these

on cayo levantado, and was lucky enough to alert (quietly) an unsuspecting customer from making the mistake. on the plus side, i found a legit shop on another island and scored these


and these


i tried 2 of the phonecios and they are really good. a little young, but great promise. same goes for the sublimes, they were excellent, but young.


----------



## Andy (Mar 23, 2008)

nice haul bro cohibas look good


----------



## Coop D (Oct 19, 2008)

Nice score!!!

I always wonder why people would buy from a street vendor when the cigars are out in the sun, and not under ideal conditions


----------



## DBCcigar (Apr 24, 2008)

Never seen a box of fake Davidoffs. That's funny!


----------



## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

Am leaving next Sunday on our cruise to a few of those places,,,looking forward to spottiing some CC's over there.


----------



## karmaz00 (Dec 5, 2007)

mmmmm yummy sticks theere


----------



## JGD (Mar 2, 2009)

Those look great! Any way you could PM where you found the shop? I'm going on a very similar cruise soon.


----------



## ProBe (Jan 8, 2009)

Sweet score enjoy.


----------



## coopesc2000 (Jun 6, 2007)

Isn't common knowledge that Davidoffs are discontinued???


----------



## Snake Hips (May 30, 2008)

coopesc2000 said:


> Isn't common knowledge that Davidoffs are discontinued???


No. If a customer thinks fake Cohibas are the real thing, then why would they know Davidoffs were extinct? They'd just think Davidoff was like all the other Cuban brands - "Oh, they make Cubans too!"


----------



## azpostal (Jul 12, 2008)

Thanks for the pics.


----------



## cryinlicks (Jan 3, 2007)

Cigary said:


> Am leaving next Sunday on our cruise to a few of those places,,,looking forward to spottiing some CC's over there.


pm me if you'd like.


----------



## big04deuce (May 16, 2008)

Thanks for sharing the haul!


----------



## VoteKinky06 (Jan 7, 2006)

Looks like that cruise got expensive! Nice haul!!


----------



## Cypress (Jun 27, 2007)

Wow you brought back quite a bit.


----------



## CosmoKCohiba (Nov 6, 2008)

A little bit of drool ran down my chin at the sight of those 04's. Nice haul bro.


----------



## robofan (Jun 7, 2008)

I hate to be the one with bad news but your Cohiba Sublimes appear to be fake to me.

First the warranty seal begins with the letters "IO". Warranty seals beginning with "I" did not start being used until late 2006. In 2004 they were using warranty seals beginning with the letters "F" and "G". The legitimate Cohiba Sublimes I have seen had a warranty seal that starts with "G".

Check out this post and link for more information.

Next your bands are very inconsistent. In your photo from left to right look at the Cohiba band on cigar # 6. You see that it has 3 rows of square dots above the word Cohiba. That is what the band should look like. Now look at the band next to that one on either side. Only 2 or 2 1/2 rows of square dots above the Cohiba name.

Look at the limitada bands. Real limitada bands always have two solid black lines above the "Edition Limitada" and a solid black line at the bottom of the band. Yours are all over the place. Some have one black line at the top of the band some have two. Some have a black line at the bottom of the band some do not.

Here is a link to a photo of a legitimate box of Cohiba Sublimes. Notice the consistency in the Cohiba bands and the limited edition bands compared to yours. Inconsistency in the bands such as yours display is one of the indicators of fakes.

Sorry but I thought you should know so you would be better informed for future purchases.


----------



## Snake Hips (May 30, 2008)

robofan said:


> I hate to be the one with bad news but your Cohiba Sublimes appear to be fake to me.
> 
> First the warranty seal begins with the letters "IO". Warranty seals beginning with "I" did not start being used until late 2006. In 2004 they were using warranty seals beginning with the letters "F" and "G". The legitimate Cohiba Sublimes I have seen had a warranty seal that starts with "G".
> 
> ...


Good eye. Just looking at the Limitada bands I'm inclined to say definitely fake, never mind the Cohiba bands and warranty seal. Can we get more pics of the boxes, bands and such? The only thing that came immediately to my mind was "Phoenicios in the Caribbean?" Does the Phoenicio box say "xxx/600" or "xxxx/6000"?


----------



## cryinlicks (Jan 3, 2007)

Snake Hips said:


> Good eye. Just looking at the Limitada bands I'm inclined to say definitely fake, never mind the Cohiba bands and warranty seal. Can we get more pics of the boxes, bands and such? The only thing that came immediately to my mind was "Phoenicios in the Caribbean?" Does the Phoenicio box say "xxx/600" or "xxxx/6000"?


1334 of 6000. as mentioned, i tried at leasst one from each box, and they are definately legit. the smell once the boxes were opened were also unmistakeable.
unfortunately, i removed the top bands just in case customs got snoopy.


----------



## cryinlicks (Jan 3, 2007)

robofan said:


> I hate to be the one with bad news but your Cohiba Sublimes appear to be fake to me.
> 
> First the warranty seal begins with the letters "IO". Warranty seals beginning with "I" did not start being used until late 2006. In 2004 they were using warranty seals beginning with the letters "F" and "G". The legitimate Cohiba Sublimes I have seen had a warranty seal that starts with "G".
> 
> ...


in my experience, the code on the warranty is not always correct. as for the limitada bands, some had slipped under the cohiba bands. all are identical.


----------



## longburn (Mar 28, 2009)

That is incredible!I won't even ask what orifice you hid all of that in!
But wow,your set and a very lucky man.Smoking a cigar from any of those types would be a life time exsperience for me,having a collection like that just defies my imagination.


----------



## coopesc2000 (Jun 6, 2007)

Look good to me brother!!!Enjoy!!


----------



## robofan (Jun 7, 2008)

cryinlicks said:


> in my experience, the code on the warranty is not always correct. as for the limitada bands, some had slipped under the cohiba bands. all are identical.


I have never seen or even heard of a single instance where a legitimate box of Cuban cigars has had an incorrect warranty seal. The Cubans are very particular about their warranty seals.



cryinlicks said:


> 1334 of 6000. as mentioned, i tried at leasst one from each box, and they are definately legit. the smell once the boxes were opened were also unmistakeable.
> unfortunately, i removed the top bands just in case customs got snoopy.


Some fakes are made with Cuban tobacco. They sell them in Cuba all the time. There are many posts warning those going to Cuba to only buy cigars from the legitimate retail stores on the island. Part of the difficulty in spotting fakes is that they often use ordinary Cuban tobacco to create cigars and then box and band them as super premiums so they can charge more money. So your getting Cuban cigars but your not getting the blend or the premium tobacco your paying for. That is why it is always important to insure that your source is legitimate, the warranty seal is correct and the box and bands are all correct and proper before purchasing.

I don't doubt that you have a box of cigars made from Cuban tobacco. Given the warranty seal and the photo you posted I do doubt that you have a real box of 2004 Cohiba Sublimes. However if you are happy with them then enjoy.


----------



## cryinlicks (Jan 3, 2007)

well, first off, thanks to all that pointed out the infrequencies. after re-checking them, the bands were indeed off (can't believe i missed that). i contacted the vendor, and he agreed to take them back, but encouraged me to try another before returning them, and as we always preach here, the ture test is to smoke one. the first one i tried was in a cigar lounge with alcohol, so that wasn't a great taste test. last night, i tried one with no drink. it started off a little slow, but the last half was exactly like a batch of 03 cohiba robustos i have. i'm convinced they are legit.


----------



## cryinlicks (Jan 3, 2007)

robofan said:


> I have never seen or even heard of a single instance where a legitimate box of Cuban cigars has had an incorrect warranty seal. The Cubans are very particular about their warranty seals.


i have received quite a few boxes from different well known legit vendors where the warranty seal code wasn't correct for the box code, and have heard of a few other botl's with the same experience.


----------



## mash (Jul 24, 2007)

Sorry to pile on here, but isn't the print on the second band much thicker on the extreme right? And look how the bottom of the band ends just below the 2004 on one stick. These bands look homemade. More prominent veins in the wrappers than would be expected for this vitola. No way a box of Sublimes left a legitimate factory looking like this.


----------



## Shervin (May 29, 2008)

Nostalgic! I used to go to that little island in a dinghy with my dates as a kid and now it's a tourist destination with cigar shops??? That's nuts!


----------



## cryinlicks (Jan 3, 2007)

mash said:


> Sorry to pile on here, but isn't the print on the second band much thicker on the extreme right? And look how the bottom of the band ends just below the 2004 on one stick. These bands look homemade. More prominent veins in the wrappers than would be expected for this vitola. No way a box of Sublimes left a legitimate factory looking like this.


the bands were definately off, but also definately not handmade. again, after smoking one with my full attention, i'm convinced they are legit.


----------



## zucc (Feb 4, 2009)

omg thats a really nice haul. i would love to have that hell i would love to even just try a cuban if i can find them lol


----------



## hardcz (Aug 1, 2007)

I don't smoke cigars anymore


----------



## GoodFella (Nov 3, 2007)

please dont tell me you got these in ST. Marteen on front street. the real nice store that you have to walk up stairs to get to?


----------

